Help support our writers and journalists.
Commentary
Moral panic or measured response? The politics behind South Africa’s elephant ‘crisis’
By Don Pinnock - Daily Maverick Behind claims of escalating human-elephant conflict lies a tangle of weak data, mismanagement and a R460-million fund that seems to need a crisis more than it proves one. Are elephants becoming increasingly dangerous to humans? Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh seems to think so. He recently got together a million-rand conference – the Southern African Elephant Indaba – at which human-elephant conflict (HEC) was the core theme. This came as a surprise to conservation NGOs working with elephants. Even those that attended...
South Africa’s provincial nature reserves are dying — and with them, our conservation legacy
By Adam Cruise - Daily Maverick South Africa’s provincial nature reserves, the quiet custodians of our country’s natural heritage, are in freefall. Once envisioned as sanctuaries of biodiversity and engines of rural development, they are now symbols of systemic neglect. Collapsing infrastructure, rampant poaching, staff shortages, and bureaucratic paralysis have pushed many of these reserves to the brink of extinction. A new investigation by the EMS Foundation into 53 provincial reserves across all nine provinces paints a stark picture: only three or 5.6% are functioning as intended....
News
New research highlights dramatic decline in global biomass of wild mammals
By Don Pinnock - Daily Maverick The number of wild creatures is dwindling as the ones we have domesticated grow … and grow. A new study by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science,...
Malawi: A deepening crisis in wildlife and human trafficking driven and enabled by corruption
By Justin Gosling - Environmental Investigation Agency Malawi has long featured as a key player in the global wildlife trafficking scene. As far back as 2002, Malawian wildlife trafficking networks...
Ancient elephant migration routes are being blocked off – can anything stop the rising death toll?
By Patrick Greenfield - The Guardian Human-wildlife conflict has now overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities – and is deadly for people too. Some villages are finding new ways to live alongside...
Press releases
Lawsuit Launched After Trump Freezes Funds for Rhino, Elephant Anti-Poaching Patrols
By The Center for Biological Diversity Contact: Sarah Uhlemann, (206) 327-2344, suhlemann@biologicaldiversity.org Broad Range of International Conservation Projects Hit By Halt in U.S. Support WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity sent notice today of its intent to sue the...
Studies
Declines of ebony and ivory are inextricably linked in an African rainforest
By Deblauwe, V. et al - Science Advances Abstract Critically endangered...
Elephant extinction could threaten everything from rainforests to musical instruments
By Alison Hewitt, University of California, Los Angeles When Taylor Guitars...
Communities Choose Compassion: A Humane Future for Wildlife
By Biological Conservation (World Animal protection) For decades, South Africa...
Reports
The Status of South Africa’s Provincial Nature Reserves
BY EMS Foundation The EMS Foundation’s recent on-site investigation into South Africa’s Provincial Nature Reserves reveals a dire situation. The majority of these reserves are unable to fulfil their conservation objectives due to poor management, insufficient funding, infrastructure decay, and...
About
The Journal of African Elephants was created by a group of concerned journalists, biologists and conservationists, who, after years of tracking and documenting the catastrophic decline of Africa’s elephant populations, have recognised the urgent need for a dedicated English and French news and commentary space to enhance and increase global awareness of the plight of Africa’s savanna and forest elephants. Our Commentary service, in particular, are writers that focus on the need to provide awareness of Africa’s elephants and affected surrounding human communities from a distinctly African perspective that, for the most part, is lacking in the dominance of Western media.